Fall of the Eleventh
by hdw
Summary: The Doctor and Clara are running through the universe, hiding from Trenzalore and the Doctor's evil future.
1. Prologue

Wren stared through the small glass windows facing out of her kitchen. Between the gaps of the large trees surrounding her wooden hut, she counted 11 moons and 2 distant planets, big and bold in their home amongst the stars. The beautiful midwinter sky more than made up for the snow and the cold. Wren cast her eyes down to the ground, where the snow was knee-deep at least. She groaned at the prospect of shoveling snow in the morning. Walking to her village became more arduous with each trip. The snow slowed her down greatly, especially when she was carrying bags of raw meat on her back on her return trips. If she knew how shoot and lay traps she wouldn't need to buy food, but learning how to hunt was one more thing she hadn't gotten around to.  
Wren shut the curtains and returned to her chair. The hut seemed bigger to her since Mum and Dad had died. Whole corners of the house left untouched, collecting dust and spider webs. Wren looked at the single picture frame on the wall above the fire. Dad sat on a village bench smiling at the camera, holding Wren in his arms. Her left hand was wrapped around his index finger.

 _"Wren, listen to me. You have to run. I can hold them back for a while, but you have to go. Go back to the hut, you'll be safe there."  
Wren held on tight to her Dad's hand as the shuffled slowly backwards through the snow. She kept her eyes wide open, forcing them to through the pain.  
"Dad, I'm not leaving you! We can do this together. Two pairs of eyes, we can hold them off! Just keep moving, please." Wren started to cry.  
"Don't cry my darling; you won't be able to see them. Please, go now. There's too many. I promised your mother that I'd keep you safe." He kissed his daughters head, keeping his eyes on the statues.  
"Do this for me Wren. My brave girl. Run."_

Wren forced her eyes away from the photo. Memories of her parents were coming back more frequently than ever, now she spent so much time alone. The days were so empty, the hours seemed to blur together into one long nightmare. The nightmare that began when she was 12 years old, the year the Devil came to her planet. The Devil, and all the monsters he had brought in his wake.  
As Wren prepared for bed, something terrifying happened.  
A knock at the door. Wren froze where she stood, her eyes fixed on the door.  
Another knock. Wren crept towards her kitchen drawers, silently opened the second one and retrieved her mother's pistol.  
A third knock. She closed the drawer and crept towards the front entrance. Who would come to her house at this time? In fact, no one ever visited Wren. Not for a long time.

A fourth knock, louder than the rest. As she reached the door, she heard a young woman's voice on the other side.  
"I told you, there's no one home. We should go, something's not right. Doctor!"  
Wren screamed as the door flew open.


	2. Warm Snow

The TARDIS landed without a fuss. Clara took her hands off of railing and walked towards the door. Before she opened it, she looked back at the Doctor, raising her eyebrow.  
"No idea," he said with a grin.  
"How can you have no idea? You parked us here! At least look at the monitor," she demanded playfully.  
The Doctor waltzed around the TARDIS console to the monitor screen. The screen showed a white plain, with a wall of trees in the distance.  
"Snow!" the Doctor exclaimed.  
"Snow?" Clara turned around to face him. She gestured to her short red dress and wedge heels. "You said we were only going to warm planets! Have you forgotten the months after we escaped the Russian submarine?"

"It's warm snow," he replied.  
Clara knew the Doctor was expecting a reaction to this comment, but she had grown accustomed to the Doctor saying ridiculous things.  
"How warm?" she asked, holding back a smirk.  
The Doctor glared at her. "Find out for yourself," he said, pointing to the door.  
Clara sighed before turning around and thrusting open the TARDIS' doors.

The sunlight shone down heavily on her face.  
"Ah yes," the Doctor said from behind her, "this planet orbits two suns. We better not be outside for too long. I didn't pack any sunscreen."  
Clara's eyes adjusted, and she looked what lay ahead of her. The TARDIS had landed in a snowy clearing, meters away from a vast row of trees. It was hard to see clearly, but it appeared to be the beginning of a very large forest.  
"What's in the forest?" Clara asked.  
"Could be anything," the Doctor replied.  
"Humans?"  
"Maybe."  
"Aliens?"  
"Most likely."  
"Daleks?"  
Clara looked back at the Doctor for reassurance. She didn't say it, but he could tell she was scared. Her eyes always gave her away. He patted her on the back.  
"I have a good feeling about this planet. They can't find us here."  
"They did last time."  
"Last time was different. Trust me."  
Clara looked into his deep into his eyes for a few seconds. She must have found what she was looking for, as she quickly stepped out of the TARDIS and onto the snow.

Even though she was expecting it, the sensation was still completely surreal.  
"See, warm snow! What did I tell you?" the Doctor grinned as he closed the TARDIS doors. Clara had a mind a throw a snowball at his face, but she refrained.  
"It's amazing!" she replied, unable hide her enthusiasm. Why couldn't snow be warm all the time? Sometimes it was better not to question sciencey-things when it came to travelling with the Doctor. She couldn't resist picking some snow up in her hands and playing with it. It felt like being wrapped up in a warm blanket in bed. The Doctor smiled at her, and started to walk forwards.  
"Come along Oswald," he said, "don't get too distracted or it could take us hours to find something interesting."  
Clara formed the snow into a ball and threw it at the back of the Doctor's head. Somehow he ducked at the last second.  
"Missed!" he shouted, without turning around. Clara huffed as she ran to keep up with him.

Clara's fascination with the snow wore off as it started to melt into her shoes. The melted slush was still warm, but it felt gross and soggy on her feet. They had been walking for almost an hour now. The Doctor was rambling on about one of his ridiculous adventures.  
"…And it turned out Anne wasn't a Zygon after all! I'll never forgive myself for telling Henry to chop off her-"  
"Doctor, look!" Clara pointed to the left. A wooden hut lay in the distance, hidden well amongst the thick trees.  
"Ooh, good spotting! I knew I kept you around for a reason" the Doctor said. He flinched as Clara hit him on the arm.  
They walked together towards the hut, Clara holding the Doctors arm for support.  
"It looks creepy, we shouldn't" she said.  
"Chicken" he replied. They reached the small clearing surrounding the hut. All the curtains were shut.  
"Curtains! That's a good sign. Love a pair of curtains" the Doctor said.  
Clara kept quiet and gestured for the Doctor to knock. He knocked twice. Nothing. They looked at each other.  
"Doctor.. I don't think we should be here" Clara whispered.  
He knocked again, and pressed his ear to the door. His eyes widened.  
"What is it?" Clara asked, clearly frightened.  
"I think…" he trailed off.  
He knocked one more time.  
"I told you, there's no one home. We should go, something's not right. Doctor!" Clara jumped as the Doctor pushed open the door.

Inside the house, a girl screamed. The Doctor stood still, keeping Clara behind him.  
"It's OK, we're nice!" he exclaimed.  
The girl in front of him looked terrified. She was tall and blonde, her green eyes open wider than seemed normal. In her right hand she held a small pistol, aimed directly at the Doctor.  
"Who are you?!" she shouted, breathing heavily.  
"I'm the Doctor, this is Clara. Say hello Clara," the Doctor said quickly.  
"Hello," Clara smiled, very wary of the gun in the girls hands.  
"We're not here to hurt you, we just want to talk," the Doctor said. His voice so calm and reassuring, Clara wondered how he could even speak with a gun pointed at his head. The girl didn't lower her gun.  
"There's no Doctor's around here," she replied, her voice weak and shaky.  
"It's more of a nickname," the Doctor said.  
"What's your real name?" the girl asked.  
The Doctor stared blankly at her, before looking straight into the barrel of the gun.  
"His name is Rory. Rory Williams," Clara jumped in.  
"How did you find my house?"  
"Clara and I we're walking through the forest when we saw it through the trees. Clara insisted on knocking, she's craving food. Do you have any sandwiches?" The Doctor walked inside, seeming to ignore the weapon pointed at him. He settled down on a chair in the kitchen. "Even a slice of bread would do. She's desperate."  
The girl followed him into the kitchen, leaving Clara to shut the door and walk behind her.

The house seemed smaller on the inside, and also strangely empty. There were no decorations or ornaments, just a few bits of furniture and a single photo on the wall.  
"You can't just walk into my house like this!" The girl was clearly panicked, she mustn't get visitors very often.  
"Sorry I didn't catch your name," the Doctor said, ignoring her protest.  
"Wren," she responded. She studied their faces. Clara had settled down in the chair beside the Doctor. They were definitely weird, but not in a bad way. Wren decided to trust them, and put the pistol down on the kitchen bench.  
"'Atta girl Wren! Lovely name that. Firstly, Miss Wren, where are we exactly?"  
"What do you mean?" Wren asked.  
"Country, planet, give me anything," the Doctor said.  
"Right... This is the Second Great Kappa Forest of Alphoma, on western edge of the Dark Continent. You're really not from around here are you?" Wren looked overwhelmed.  
"No, we're really not." Clara responded with a weak smile.  
"So Wren, who else lives here? Mum, Dad, brothers or sisters? Boyfriend? Girlfriend?" the Doctor asked.  
Wren paused for a moment before answering. "I live alone. My mother was killed when I was five years old, and my father was taken by the Weeping Angels a few months back."  
The Doctor and Clara looked at each other, alarmed.  
"It's okay, they've all gone now. I haven't seen any since," Wren said.  
The Doctor stood up from his chair. "I'm very sorry about your parents Wren. You're a very brave girl. Clara, we should go." He seemed agitated.  
"I don't understand, there's no danger. The monsters are gone. I promise." For some reason Wren didn't want them to leave. She hadn't had company in her house for so long.  
Clara stood up from her chair and looked at Wren in the eyes. The blonde girl looked as though she were about to cry.  
"You answered the door with a gun," Clara said, "That doesn't scream 'no danger' to me. "

"I wasn't expecting company! Please, tell me what you're so scared of. It's frightening me," Wren said, attempting to hide any emotion in her voice.  
The Doctor turned to face Wren as he reached the front door.  
"Clara and I… trouble tends to follow us wherever we go. If there have been Weeping Angels here before, then this planet isn't safe for us. We may have put you in danger by coming here. It's hard to explain. I'm sorry." He grabbed the door handle.

"Take me with you?" Wren asked.


	3. Exterminate

Wren stepped outside and shut the door behind her.  
"You have a spaceship?" she asked as she caught up with Clara.  
"Why are you so surprised?" the Doctor replied, slightly offended.

"I dunno, I've never met anyone with a spaceship before. What's it like?"  
"Huge," Clara answered with a smile, "you'll see. There's a swimming pool, a library, even a room made of cheese!"  
The Doctor turned around. "No there isn't."  
"Yes there is! I saw it yesterday!" Clara responded defiantly.  
"You're lying."  
"I swear! There was feta all over the walls."  
"You really are the strangest people I have ever met," Wren shook her head, a smile growing on her face. Clara felt sorry for the blonde girl. Being alone all the time at her age must be difficult, especially on this strange planet.  
"Why is the snow warm?" she asked.  
Wren laughed. "It just is. It's not warm all the time; we've been pretty lucky this year. Most of the time it's-" Wren noticed the others had stopped walking. "Rory? What's wrong?" she asked. He was staring at markings on a nearby tree.  
"Doctor?" Clara asked.  
He continued to stare at the tree. He reached out and touched the markings with his hands. Two parallel cuts had been made across the tree.  
"There's been more than just Weeping Angels in this forest," he said grimly. He turned to Wren. "Clara lied, my name isn't Rory. Please don't call me that. It's the Doctor. Just the Doctor. Now, I'm sorry Wren, but I think this might be important; how did your mother die?"

 _"Daddy, what are those things?"  
"I don't know sweetheart." Wren's father held her hand as they ran through the forest, away from their village.  
"They killed Lorna's little brother."  
_ _ **EXTERMINATE!**_ _  
Another scream echoed through the forest. This one sounded closer, maybe 100 meters back.  
Charlie didn't know how comfort her. Everything was a blur.  
"It's going to be okay, we just have to keep running," he said.  
"And all the men by the fish market," Wren said, her little feet trying furiously to keep up with Dad.  
"I know baby. But we escaped; we're going to be fine. I promise. Katt?" He turned his head. His wife had fallen further behind, her pace slowing to a fast walk. She clutched her stomach; her pain visible with every step. He tried to ignore the dark smoke rising in the distance behind her.  
"It's hurting him," Katt cried.  
Charlie ran his hands through his hair, trying to stay calm for Wren.  
"I'll carry you," he said, returning to his wife. He held out his arms to pick her up.  
"Charlie, no. I'm not going to slow you down. We need to split up. Go with Wren. Now!" she shouted at her husband.  
_ _ **EXTERMINATE!  
**_ _It was close now._ _Neither Charlie nor Wren had moved, and Katt began to cry._ _ **  
**_ _"Please! Wren, please, go with your father now. I'll be right behind you. If one of them comes, I'll.. hide behind a tree."  
Charlie embraced his wife, holding his hand on her stomach. They looked into each other's eyes.  
"You keep our daughter alive, no matter what," Katt whispered into his ear. He nodded.  
Katt gave a weak smile to Wren, who was hugging her leg.  
"We'll get through this, the four of us. Now go!"_

"Wren? Are you okay?"  
The Doctor and Clara looked down at Wren. She had stopped and sat down halfway through telling the story of her mother's death.

"Wren?" Clara shook her shoulder. Her mind was a million miles away.  
"Doctor…" Clara gave him a troubled look.  
"I know."  
"She said the Daleks killed her mother."  
"I know. We need to leave."  
"We can't just leave Wren out here in the snow! This place is dangerous!"  
The blonde girl seemed to react to being lifted out of the snow by the Doctor and Clara.  
"Wh..what happened?" Her eyes darted around, unable to focus.  
Clara tried to reassure her, "You're fine, you just got a bit confused while telling us about your mother. We're taking you to our spaceship..."  
"Wren, why did the Daleks come to your village?" the Doctor asked in his serious voice. Wren didn't respond.  
"And the Weeping Angels? Why were they here? What is it about this forest, this planet? Wren?"  
Suddenly Wren's eyes fixed on the Doctor's. Her confused expression conformed into a frown.  
"He brought them here," she whispered.  
The Doctor's eyes narrowed.  
"Who did? Who brought them here?" Clara asked.  
Wren's eyes darted to meet Clara's.  
"The devil. All those years ago, he came to this planet, followed by his army of monsters. When he left, the monsters stayed behind. He cursed us."

Clara looked at the Doctor. She had a terrible feeling about this.  
"Wren," the Doctor said quietly, " you never told us the name of this planet," the Doctor said quietly. He was shaking.

Wren frowned slightly. "Trenzalore."  
The three stood in silence for a second, before the sound of thunder hit the air, and hundreds of pairs of silver metal boots hit the forest floor.


	4. Running again

Wren was running again. Running through the forest from the monsters. She looked to the Doctor and Clara, running where her parents might have been. What would happen this time? Could they save her? It didn't seem likely. These metal robots were faster than the Daleks, more urgent than the Weeping Angels. And this time there were hundreds. Wren wondered who's turn it was to die.

"You brought us to _Trenzalore_? You brought us the hide in _TRENZALORE_?" Clara yelled at the Time Lord as they ran between the trees. The rhythmic crunch of the Cybermen's boots on the snow grew louder and more intimidating with every second that passed. They weren't far behind.  
"I didn't know! Something must have forced the TARDIS to land here.." the Doctor shouted back. The cybermen's march was deafening.  
 **"DELETE!"** A cyberman screamed in the distance.  
A cracking sound hit the air, followed by a massive thud.  
"They're cutting down the trees!" Clara yelled.  
The Doctor turned around for a second. In the distance behind Wren he saw a flash of silver.  
"How did they find us?" Wren yelled, "they teleported right around us!"  
"The cybermen have eyes all over the universe. They must have seen us from above," the Doctor replied.  
"But why do they want _us_? Why are the aliens always trying to kill me?" Wren cried.  
Clara grabbed Wren's hand, forcing her to run faster.  
"They don't want you, they want us. But it's okay, the TARDIS is just up ahead!" Clara yelled.  
Wren looked at Clara.  
"What did you just say?"  
 **"DELETE!** " Another tree fell. The cybermen's march was getting faster.  
"I said the TARDIS is just up ahead! We're going to make it!" Clara repeated.

"TARDIS…" Wren whispered. Where had she heard that name before? She looked to the Doctor. Suddenly she was hit by another memory of the day of her mothers death.

" _Mum! Where are you?"  
Wren ran back through the forest, retracing her footsteps. It was three hours since she and Dad had left Mum behind with the Daleks. Where was she? Wren had managed to sneak out of the house without Dad seeing. She needed to find Mum soon, before it got dark.  
There was a noise behind Wren. She turned around, hoping to see her Mother running towards her with open arms. Instead, she saw two of the machines in the distance, returning in her direction. Wren quickly hid behind a tree, crouching into its trunk. Had they seen her? She decided to stay still until they passed.  
_ _"_ _ **THERE HAS BEEN NO SIGN OF HIM OR THE TARDIS IN THIS SECTOR"**_ _ **  
**_ _The machines were speaking to each other!  
_ _ **"WE HAVE BEEN MISLED! WE WERE PROMISED THAT HE WOULD BE HERE."**_ _  
Wren held her breath as the machines passed her tree. Their eyestalks stayed pointing forward. She was safe.  
_ " _ **ONE DAY HE SHALL RETURN, WE MUST BE READY WHEN HE DOES…"**_

Wren came back to reality. They reached the edge of the forest.

"When we get out of the forest, run straight to the TARDIS! There'll be no trees to cover us!" the Doctor yelled.  
Wren's legs were cramping. They had been running for over ten minutes now. When they reached the clearing, the sunlight hit the trio like a brick wall.  
"It's so bright, I can't see!" Clara screamed.  
"Just keep running!" the Doctor yelled.  
Holding their eyes shut, they ran blindly through the open snow.  
"Wait…" Wren shouted, "I think this is.. STOP! STOP RUNNING!"

The Doctor forced his eyes to adjust to the sunlight. Looking ahead of them, he understood Wren's cry. A few meters ahead, the ground completely dropped away.  
"CLARA STOP!" he screamed.  
He managed to grab the fabric of Clara's dress before she plummeted off of the edge.  
"Oh my god," Clara's eyes widened as she realised what had almost happened. She turned and hugged the Doctor tight.  
"But where's the TARDIS?" Clara asked, "it was right here! We left it in the middle of this clearing!"  
"I think they moved it," the Doctor said grimly. He peered over the cliff edge.  
"Who did?" Clara asked.  
Simultaneously the trio realized the snow crunching sound had stopped. The cybermen reached the clearing.


	5. The Devil

Wren turned around to face the cybermen. They had formed a large semi-circle around the clearing, trapping the group from returning to the forest. Their only way out was down.  
"Why aren't they moving?" Clara whispered, hiding behind the Doctor's coat.  
The Doctor scanned the cybermen with his eyes. There were around 200 of them, standing side by side around the edge of the clearing.  
"I think their purpose was to chase us here, not to kill us," the Doctor said.  
"Their _purpose_?" Clara responded.

"Why did the TARDIS land freely in Trenzalore? There's something else going on here." The Doctor gave Clara a dreading look.

Clara didn't understand. "Okay, so the cybermen were ordered to chase us here. Now what?"  
The Doctor walked to the very edge of the cliff and pointed down.  
"Look," he said simply.  
Clara followed him to the edge and looked down. The first thing she noticed was that the drop was enormous. From here, they could see for hundreds of miles into the distance. Her jaw dropped. The surface of the planet was blackened and dead, all the way to the horizon.

"Everything you can see used to be part of the great Gamma Forest of West-Alphoma. Fifty years ago, the entire forest was burnt to the ground, at the end of the war. Everything was lost. Even the rivers disappeared. Thousands of our people died, those who survived fled up here, to our new home in the snow," Wren explained, never taking her eyes from the Doctor.  
It was a lot for Clara to take in. She couldn't take her eyes away from the desolation that lay before them. The Doctor was still pointing down. The ground directly at the bottom of the cliff was in shadow, so it took a few seconds for her to realize what he was pointing at.  
"Oh god," Clara moaned. Her heart sank to her stomach.  
The square roof of a tiny blue box was just visible, tucked right into the edge of the cliff.  
"Found it," the Doctor grimaced.  
Clara turned around the face the cybermen. "So they chased us to the edge of the cliff, and put the TARDIS at the bottom. Do they want us to jump?"  
She looked back to the Doctor. He was still staring down over the edge.  
"You'd die," she stated. Was he actually considering it?  
"Is there any other way?" he said.

Looking back at Clara, he noticed Wren over her shoulder. She was holding her pistol outstretched, pointing it straight at his head.  
"Yes," Wren whispered quietly, "you can die slowly."  
Clara and the Doctor stood next to each other speechless raising their hands in the air, their backs to the edge of the world.

"Wren, what are you doing!?" Clara yelled, "hundreds of cybermen standing behind you and you're pointing the gun at us?"  
Wren addressed the Doctor. "It's you isn't it?" She began to sob as she waved her gun weakly at his face.  
"Yes," he replied blankly.  
"The Warrior who brought all the monsters to Trenzalore."  
"Yes."  
"The beast in the blue box. The Devil. The TARDIS. It's all _you._ "  
"Wren, you have to understand. Whatever happened here, whatever monsters came to this planet, _it hasn't happened for me yet_. I'm a time traveller, and Trenzalore is still in my future."  
Wren paused for a moment.  
"So if I kill you now, none of it would ever have happened? The monsters would never have come, my parents.."  
"Wren, don't do this," Clara begged, "I don't know what happened here, what _will_ happen here, but the Doctor is a good man-"  
"I DON'T CARE!" Wren cried, "IT'S STILL YOUR FAULT! EVERYTHING BURNED BECAUSE OF YOU! MY PARENTS _DIED_ BECAUSE OF YOU!" Tears streamed from her eyes. The gun shook heavily in her hands.

"Please…" the Doctor whispered. He couldn't look at her in the eye.  
"WHY CAN'T YOU JUST LEAVE THIS PLANET ALONE?"  
She fired the gun.

Wren looked into the Doctor's eyes, waiting to see the life drain out of them. If he dies now, then everything will change! The war would never have happened, _Mum and Dad would never have died_.  
Why isn't he dying?  
"Oh," Clara whimpered. She clutched the side of her stomach. Blood was slowly starting to seep through her red dress.


	6. Fall

The Doctor held his dying companion as she bled in the snow, and Wren aimed her pistol at his head. He was holding the girl's wound, scanning her with his screwdriver. He was crying. _Why does he care so much? He's the devil._  
Wren knew in her heart that she was wrong.  
She let the pistol fall onto the snow. All the stories about this man, all the things he had done, or will do. It just couldn't be true. He was mad, but not a monster. Not this man.  
And what about Wren? She had shot his friend. She could tell that Clara didn't have long left. There was too much blood.  
 _Wren was the monster._

A single cyberman stepped out of their formation.  
 **"THE GIRL HAS SHOWN STRENGTH. SHE WILL BE CONVERTED."  
** Wren didn't protest as the silver robot walked towards her. She thought of her parents as she was carried away.

"Clara, hey, stay with me now," the Doctor said quietly to his companion.  
Clara lay across his lap, her arms lying weakly at her sides. She looked into his eyes and gave a weak smile.  
"Warm snow," she whispered.  
The Doctor gave a small laugh, brushing the hair off of her face.  
"I can save you," he whispered.  
"No," Clara cried. She knew what he meant to do."You'll die."  
"I have to try. You've saved me a million times, this is the least I can do." He looked up and addressed the Cybermen. "Is this what you want? Why you brought me here?" The machines stood still, giving no answer.  
"No," Clara repeated. She shook her head.  
He smiled down at her. "I'll be back soon. In the TARDIS."  
The Doctor stood up, laying Clara down gently in the snow. Blood was dripping from his hands. She had grown paler.  
" _You_ won't," she whispered. Her eyes filled with tears.  
The Doctor sighed.  
"Clara Oswald. My impossible girl."  
"Doctor, please," Clara whimpered.  
Clara watched in horror as he walked to the edge of the cliff. At the last second he turned back to his companion and smiled.  
And then he was gone.

The Doctor fell for an eternity. He tried to clear his mind of all the fear and sorrow he was feeling. He couldn't get the blonde girl out of his head.  
" _IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT."_  
Spinning and falling, arms flailing. He was soon travelling at a frightening speed.  
The Doctor didn't want to regenerate anymore. He had heard the stories about this new Doctor. Hedidn't want to turn into a warrior again, once was enough.  
But it was too late now. He had to save Clara.  
He felt himself fall into the shadow of the cliff. Everything was cold and dark. He started to panic. He wasn't ready. The ground was so close now. He caught of a glimpse of the TARDIS before he shut his eyes. So close. There was no snow down here to ease his impact, only the blackened earth. He hoped he didn't feel the pain.  
The Doctor braced himself for the end.

Everything went black.


	7. Spoilers

River Song arrived in time to watch the Doctor fall. She closed her vortex manipulator, and averted her eyes as the Doctor hit the ground. The sound of his impact was horrifying; she couldn't imagine what his body must look like. The Doctor, the man she had known all her life, the man she had _loved,_ lay broken at her feet. She had feared this day all her life. Leaning back against the TARDIS, she wiped away her tears. She had to be strong now, for the Doctor.

She only had one chance to say goodbye.

The Doctor woke to the smell of ash and a golden glow over his eyelids. For a moment he laid peacefully, images of Clara and the TARDIS swirling around in his mind. Soon the memories came flooding back. The forest, the blonde girl, the cybermen, Trenzalore. Clara had been shot, and he had fallen from the cliff.

It didn't take the Doctor very long to piece together the next step. A sense of dread came over him. He wasn't feeling any pain, and there was a tingling sensation running all over his body. It was starting.

He heard the sound of footsteps coming towards him. High heels?  
The Doctor opened his eyes.  
"You know how to make an entrance," said his wife. The TARDIS was behind her, in the few meters between the Doctor and the cliff. It was lucky he had missed them both.  
"Did I impress you?" He asked with a cheeky grin.  
"You certainly could have chosen a smaller cliff to throw yourself off of," she replied, looking up to the sky. From here, the top of the cliff wasn't even visible.  
"The cybermen, the moved the TARDIS down here. They wanted me to jump."  
"It's ok. It doesn't matter now," River said sadly.  
"How did you find me?" The Doctor asked. He slowly stood up from the ground. River couldn't believe the broken man that had landed mere minutes ago was now fully repaired and having a conversation.  
"That girl up there, she's smarter than you know," River said.  
The Doctors eyes widened. "Clara? She sent you here?"  
"Clara from your future."  
The Doctor smiled from ear to ear. The golden glow was starting to appear over his hands, but he ignored it.  
"Yes, she survives the gunshot. She came to me, and told me where I could find the TARDIS. She warned me to watch out for the cybermen, and to duck for cover when the time came. This wasn't quite what I had in mind," River said.  
"Clara, from my future, sent you here just to be with me?"  
There was a flash of sadness in River's eyes.  
"She didn't want you to be alone now."

The Doctor finally looked down to his hands. The regeneration energy was surging through him, rushing through and around his veins.  
"River, what happens to me?" The Doctor said grimly.  
"Spoilers," she replied.  
"No, River, I need to know. The girl up there, the one who shot Clara, she called me a monster. She said millions of people die on this planet because of me – future me. River, you have to tell me if it's true. I can stop the regeneration. I can die right now, even if it means losing Clara. None of it has to happen."

"No," River lied. "That girl is wrong. What happened on this planet, there was nothing you could do. Doctor, you _need_ to regenerate. You have so much left to do, so many thousands of lives to save. Including the girl up at the top of this cliff, bleeding in the snow. She needs you now."  
"Not me," the Doctor gritted his teeth, "the man I'm about to become. River, if you're wrong about this, millions could die. I've been a warrior before, and I would rather die right now than be that man again."  
"You have to trust me," River said. A tear rolled down her cheek. She couldn't bear lying to him like this. To be honest, River had never met the Doctor's future regeneration. But she had been told of the things he had done, the decisions he had made. River had decided to keep away from him, and remember the Doctor as the man who stood before her. After tonight, the Doctor would likely never see her again.

The Doctor sighed. He only had seconds left.  
"I went to see my parents before I came here," River said.  
The Doctor smiled. "Amy. How is she?"  
"She gave me this letter to give to you," River said. She walked forwards and put the note in his hands. She could feel the energy rushing though him.  
"I don't have time to read it," the Doctor said. He could feel his particles changing and building rapidly as he fumbled with the note.  
"But you do have time for this," River said quietly. She leaned forward and kissed him.  
For those few seconds, the Doctor forgot about the regeneration, about Trenzalore and the cybermen. He was with his wife, and that was all that mattered.  
River gently pulled away.  
"Thank you, my Doctor. Thank you for everything," River said. Tears were falling from her cheeks. She started to back away from him.  
"River, please…"  
Golden energy started to shoot from the Doctor's arms. Internally, the pain became excruciating. Every atom in his body altered, stabbing him like needles under his skin. The golden light surrounded him as he started to scream.

River turned away from her husband and walked into the shadows. She cursed to herself as she wiped her eyes again. She knew she should have let him stop the regeneration, but she couldn't face her Doctor dying like this in the dark. At least she was saving Clara's life..but at what cost? River thought of all those she had put in danger just by letting him live.  
As far as she was concerned, the Doctor was gone now. The man he was turning in to wasn't the Doctor. He wasn't a warrior either, not according to legend. This man was much worse. There was another word for him, a word her Doctor had been afraid of.  
River entered co-ordinates on her vortex manipulator. She needed to leave before he finished regenerating.  
 _Monster._


	8. Regeneration

Eventually, the pain subsided.  
The Doctor lowered his arms to his sides and breathed in slowly through his nose.  
 _I still have a nose, good._  
The smell of the stale ashy air reminded the new man of where he was standing.  
 _Trenzalore._  
Turning away from the giant cliff face, he looked across the dark barren land that stretched out as far as the eye could see. Nothing anywhere moved or made a sound. Entire villages and forests reduced to nothing but blackened rubble and dirt.  
 _What a godforsaken planet this is_ , the Doctor thought. _And that wretched blonde girl would blame me for this mess? Lies. Whatever happened here, these people must've brought it on themselves._  
The Doctor remembered the worst part of this tale, that he himself was destined to die here in the midst of battle. _We'll damn well see about that. I survived this planet once, I can survive it again._ He felt anger surging through him. He was a new man, and his first mission would be to find out what the hell was happening on this planet, and end it before it started.

He returned his mind to his new regeneration. He could feel something different in his bones, and already half knew what to expect before he looked down at his hands. They were wrinkled and veiny, covered with the lines and grooves you'd expect to find on an old man. The raised his hands to his face, and found it to be wrinkled too.  
 _I'm not a young man anymore._  
That realisation hit the Doctor with a sense of dread. Everything would be different now. Running would be harder for one, but more importantly he would be treated differently by his companions. What would Clara think of him now? Would she want to travel with this new man, with an old face? Obviously he had always been thousands of years older than her, but he knew there was something about his young appearance that she had been attracted to.  
He looked up to the top of the cliff, thinking of her up there lying unconscious in the snow. She was badly wounded, but River had said..

 _Where is River?_  
The Doctor turned back towards the TARDIS.  
"River?" he called. His new voice sounded croaky and harsh.  
No one answered. The woman was no where to be seen.  
" **RIVER?** "  
 _Why would she abandon me here in the middle of regeneration? What if I had needed help? I just fell from a giant cliff for gods sake.  
_ Bitterly he realised that his new regeneration meant that she must not want him anymore. _I'm an old man, and she doesn't want anything to do with me.  
_ Again he felt anger rising in him. _Well that bitch can go to hell, and so can this planet.  
_ The Doctor walked to his TARDIS and slammed through the door.


End file.
